70 phrases by Antonio Machado: a unique life philosophy

The thoughts and phrases of Antonio Machado have remained as a legacy for humanity. This Spanish playwright and poet, a member of the literary movement called the Generation of '98, began in the modernist current to later transform into a lyric with symbolic content and philosophical. His works are among the most important in Spanish literature, and seeing the author's clarity of thought it is easy to see why.

Among his writings, Soledades, Campos de Castilla and New Songs stand out, and in these books, as in the rest of his works, there are nuances full of humanistic reflections and a remarkable commitment civic. Antonio Machado's phrases reflect a patriotic sentiment of a country in crisis and human commitment.

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The most remembered phrases of Antonio Machado

To know the thoughts of this poet and playwright, we have prepared a compilation of the best phrases of Antonio Machado on various nuances of his life.

1. In his heart he had the thorn of a passion. I managed to rip it off one day: I no longer feel my heart

A way to explain the emptiness and suffering after a love breakup.

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2. To dialogue, ask first; after... listen

This phrase talks about the importance of a listening attitude to understand each other and communicate in some way.

3.Everything that is ignored is despised

One of Antonio Machado's phrases that tells us when you don't know the value of something, you reject it.

4. I have my friends in my solitude, when I am with them, how far they are

Machado in this sentence, talks about loneliness in the company.

5. Every fool confuses value and price

There are things that have a type of value that cannot be bought.

6. Slow and good handwriting, that doing things well, matters more than doing them

Emphasizing that time and dedication is what matters.

7. Learn to doubt and you will end up doubting your own doubt; in this way God rewards the skeptic and the believer

That doubt does not separate us from the path of curiosity.

8. If it is good to live, it is still better to dream, and best of all, to wake up

The desire to achieve and imagine something higher without neglecting reality.

9. Today is always still

Of all the phrases of Antonio Machado, this one in particular tells us about hope.

10. Benevolence does not mean tolerance of the mean, or conformity with the inept, but will for good

This phrase explains that goodwill is what must prevail.

11. Men of Spain, neither the past has died nor is tomorrow, nor yesterday, written

Machado shows hope in the political situation that his country was experiencing at that time.

12. Pay attention: a lonely heart is not a heart

In a way, we all need someone's company.

13. The truth is what it is, and it remains true even if you think backwards

Machado dedicated many writings to address the concept of truth.

14. There are two kinds of men: those who live talking about virtues and those who limit themselves to having them.

It is better to make our virtues known through our actions.

15. They say that a man is not a man while he does not hear his name from a woman's lips

In this sentence Machado exposes sensuality and romanticism.

16. Death is something that we should not fear because, while we are, death is not and when death is, we are not

That constant fear of death does not block us from the experience of living our reality.

17. After the truth there is nothing as beautiful as fiction

Another phrase where Machado addresses the issue of truth, comparing it with that magical realism that he embodied in his writings.

18. Help me understand what I am saying and I will explain it to you better

The importance of cooperative learning and observe from the gaze of the other.

19. It is typical of men with medium heads to attack everything that does not fit in their heads

Reject something that is difficult to understand.

20. In Spain, out of every ten heads, nine attack and one thinks

Machado in this sentence, once again shows his position in the political situation in the country.

21. In politics, only those who put the candle where the air blows triumph; never who pretends to blow the air where he puts the candle

In politics, doing things the right way leads to success.

22. Walker, there is no path, the path is made by walking

One of the most famous Antonio Machado phrases that tells us about moving forward following our own compass and building our own route.

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23. As much as a man is worth, he will never have a higher value than that of being a man

Mention the value of the person himself, above his social, economic, race and cultural condition.

24. The concepts belong to everyone and are imposed on us from outside; intuitions are always ours

Sometimes following the opinions of others takes us away from ourselves.

25. Your truth? no, the truth and come with me to find it. Yours, keep it

The importance of prevailing between our opinion and that of the other.

26. Without time, that invention of Satan, the world would lose the anguish of waiting and the comfort of hope

The appreciation of the passage of time is always personal.

27. Did you say half true? They'll say you lie twice if you tell the other half

In this reflection, Machado refers once again to the concept of honesty, focusing on the use of half truths.

28. Flee from stages, pulpits, platforms and pedestals. Never lose contact with the ground; because only then will you have an approximate idea of ​​your height

Being in touch with that reality that allows us to see who we are clearly.

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29. Our hours are minutes when we hope to know, and centuries when we know what can be learned

Machado in this sentence, returns to touch the theme of time as a particular experience from different perspectives.

30. In matters of culture and knowledge, only what is saved is lost, only what is given is gained

Machado's position on culture and education is that progress can be made when we decide to share it.

31. Worse than seeing black reality is not seeing it

When we decide to remain passive in the face of an unpleasant situation.

32. Blessed is he who forgets the reason for the trip and, in the star, in the flower, in the clouds, leaves his soul on fire

Phrase about the importance of living the process and the learning that it generates.

33. Judging or correcting us implies applying the measure other than our own cloth

Avoid disqualifying yourself with unnecessary comparisons.

34. Man is by nature the paradoxical beast, an absurd animal that needs logic

This phrase tells us about the importance of using logic.

35. Out of ten heads, nine charge and one thinks

The author once again emphasizes the importance of the use of reason.

36. Nor is the fruit taken without season worth anything... Not even if a brute praises you, he has to be right

Things must be spontaneous if they do not lose their essence.

37. I disdain the romances of the hollow tenors and the chorus of crickets that sing to the moon. To distinguish I stand the voices of the echoes, and I only hear, among the voices, one

This phrase reflects the author's relationship with his poetry.

38. You say that nothing is created? Potter, to your pots. Make your glass and don't mind if it can't make mud

On the attitude of creating something of your own and original.

39. Do not trust words: In this life you will find many people who live badly and speak well.

We must put a filter to criticism and messages that come from outside.

40. The eyes because you sigh, know well, the eyes in which you look at yourself are eyes because they see you

From this phrase by Antonio Machado it follows that in our gaze we can project what we feel.

41. Whenever I deal with men from the fields, I think about how much they know and we ignore, and how little it matters to them to know how much we know.

In this sentence we can see the position that the author had regarding the right to share knowledge and education.

42. In my loneliness I have seen very clear things that are not true

In an intimate space you can reflect on aspects that are experienced as real and turn out to be untrue.

43. In asking what you know, you must not waste time... And to unanswered questions, who can answer you?

You don't have to put a lot of energy into things that you have no control over.

44. No one should be scared of what he thinks, even if his thinking appears to conflict with the most elementary laws of logic.

This phrase encourages spontaneity and self-recognition. One of Antonio Machado's phrases of a moral nature.

45. Our spanish yawns

Regarding the crisis that the Spanish people were experiencing by the political situation of the country.

46. In despair and in the melancholy of your memory, soria, my heart is watered

The author's pessimistic attitude to the political situation in his country at that time.

47. Nobody already knows what is known, although we all know that there is someone who knows about everything.

This phrase talks about the way they approached knowledge in those times.

48. The hand of the pious always takes away our honor; but the fighter never offends when he gives us his hand

Machado somehow wanted to expose the position of man in front of the authority of the powerful.

49. Given the choice between the truth and the pleasure of seeking it, we would choose the latter

Machado exposing the fragility of the human being.

50. Happiness consists of being healthy and having an empty head

Joy as a result of physical well-being and free from binding thoughts.

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51. The absence of vices adds little to virtue

From time to time certain habits that give us experience come in handy.

52. But look in your mirror for the other

The bond with another human being is projection.

53. Our hours are minutes when we hope to know, and centuries when we know what can be learned

On the relativity of time. When a situation passes the threshold of our attention, time feels shorter.

54. Coin that is in hand, maybe it should be saved. The coin of the soul is lost if it is not given

There are spaces that only correspond to our privacy and others that only make sense if they are shared.

55. One of the most effective remedies so that things never change on the inside is to constantly renew them on the outside

Recognize that the environment has an impact on our interior.

56. Of what men call virtue, justice and goodness, one half is envy, and the other is not charity

Again Machado exposing in this sentence hypocrisy and falsehood in the human being.

57. In the psychological analysis of great betrayals you will always find the mindlessness of Judas Iscariot

The little judgment to make decisions that lead to betrayals.

58. Light of the soul, divine light, beacon, torch, star, sun... A man groping walks; carries a lantern on his back

This phrase talks about the weight of knowledge.

59. The ones who are always back from everything are the ones who have never gone anywhere

Undertake a path towards contact with various situations that only when you return from these, do you take away the experience of what happened.

60. Virtue is the joy that soothes the most serious heart and uncoils the frown of Cato

Once again the physical well-being is related by adding the emotional.

61. In case of life or death, you must be with your neighbor

On the importance of emotional ties and how they nurture us.

62. I talk to the man who always goes with me. Who speaks alone, hopes to talk to God one day

Machado manages to describe part of his personality in this sentence.

63. The richest area of ​​our souls, of course the most extensive, is the one that is usually forbidden to knowledge by our own love

Open ourselves to the unknown leaving behind fear, prejudice and selfishness.

64. Cinema... that invention of the devil

For Machado, cinema was a mind control tool by the dictatorial government.

65. Spanish little that you come to the world God save you, one of the two Spains has to freeze your heart

This phrase reflects the pessimistic atmosphere and hopelessness in the face of polarization problems in Spain.

66. I have seen wild claws on polished hands; I know musical rooks and lyrical Marranos... The most rogue puts his hand to his heart, and the thickest brute is charged with reason

The human being when he contrasts his polarities.

67. Everything passes and everything remains, but our thing is to pass, to pass by making roads, roads over the sea

Machado exposes the passage of time and the traces that each experience leaves.

68. It is the best of the good who knows that in this life everything is a matter of measure: a little more, a little less ...

Give the adequate energy to each situation as required.

69. The good is the one who keeps, which sale of the way, for the thirsty the water, for the drunkard the wine

An invitation to wait, because for everything there is the right time.

70. When we first saw each other, we just reminded each other. Although it may seem absurd to you, I have cried when I was aware of my love for you, for not having loved you all my life

Machado in this sentence shows us the contradictions of love.